Main menu

Main menu

NFL Week 4 Review: Ravens vs. Jets

By

October 4, 2011

October 4, 2011
| by

Sunday Night Football, ostensibly, gives a primetime view to what should be a great matchup between two of the league's top teams. Sometimes, this ideal is foiled by circumstances outside of the team's control -- take, for example, Peyton Manning's injury lowering the quality of Week 3's Steelers-Colts matchup. But sometimes, a good matchup is there, and both teams play ugly, ugly football.

This was certainly the case in Week 4's Sunday Night matchup, as both the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Jets combined to fail to produce a 100 yard runner or a completion percentage over 33%. Both teams did manage to produce seven turnovers, however. This was the source of Baltimore's big victory: three of the four turnovers forced by the Ravens' defense turned into six points on the other end.

Jameel McClain (6.6 +EPA) and Ed Reed (6.2 +EPA) also put up big performances in a turnover-laden performance for Mark Sanchez and the Jets. Unsurprisingly, given the fact that the Ravens scored three of their touchdowns on defensive plays, a good deal of these +EPA totals come from the forced turnovers and the ensuing returns.

Observe, a chart detailing the EPA and WPA of the game's seven turnovers:

Reed and McClain combined on the Ravens' first touchdown, with Reed sacking Mark Sanchez and forcing the fumble and then McClain finishing the job, carrying the ball six yards into the end zone. This play accounts for 4.1 of the pair's +EPA and a solid +0.07 WPA.

Suggs and Webb combined for the biggest turnover, the clincher in the third quarter. With the Jets down 10, Suggs heavily pressured Sanchez, hitting the quarterback as he released a floating pass into the arms of a waiting Webb, who took the ball 73 yards for the score. The Ravens picked up 9.95 EPA and a crushing +0.2 WPA on this score as they took a 17-point lead and didn't look back.

Overall, the Ravens picked up a whopping +0.53 WPA and over 26 EPA from the four turnovers they forced. Even with the offense coughing up the ball three times, the Ravens still ended up ahead by +0.39 WPA and just under 13 expected points added in the turnover battle.

The Jets had a couple of big turnovers of their own, most notably an interception which David Harris brought back for a touchdown to make the game 27-14 at the half. This at least gave the Jets life, but with Sanchez, Shonn Greene, LaDainian Tomlinson and the rest of the Jets' offense rendered ineffective, it didn't matter for the Ravens, who cruised to a victory and a 3-1 record.